Genetic News and Research

RSS

Discovery of gene variation linked to increased risk of ischemic stroke

Millions of people have a genetic variant linked to increased risk of ischemic stroke, reports an international research team including scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in a study published online by The New England Journal of Medicine on April 15.

15 Apr 2009

Discovery of potential genetic predisposition for lung cancer

University of Cincinnati (UC) cancer cell biologists have identified a distinct gene linked to increased lung cancer susceptibility and development.

15 Apr 2009

Federal funding for partnership to combat infectious diseases

Oregon Health & Science University and the University of Washington, along with a number of partner institutions across the Northwest, have received federal funding to form a regional research center aimed at combating emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases that pose a serious threat to human health.

15 Apr 2009

Neurodegeneration study reveals targets of destruction

Scientists are reporting the strongest evidence to date that neurodegenerative diseases target and progress along distinct neural networks that normally support healthy brain function.

15 Apr 2009

Discovery of a new target for novel HIV treatment strategy

The AIDS-causing HIV specifically counteracts the mechanisms of human cells that protect these against viral infections - a special viral protein marks protective cellular proteins for their rapid destruction and thus diminishes the cell's supply.

15 Apr 2009

Gene therapy for muscular dystrophy a step closer

Researchers have cleared a safety hurdle in efforts to develop a gene therapy for a form of muscular dystrophy that disables patients by gradually weakening muscles near the hips and shoulders.

15 Apr 2009

The DECIPHER database - revolutionising clinical practice and genetic research

Today - five years after the inception of the DECIPHER database - researchers have published a report that reveals the developing role of the database in revolutionising both clinical practice and genetic research.

15 Apr 2009

Genetic differences influence risk of developing proteinuria

Genetic differences can influence one's risk of developing proteinuria, a condition that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

15 Apr 2009

Vaccine for Coeliac disease could mean the end of gluten free diets

Australian scientists have developed an experimental vaccine to treat coeliac disease. The team at the Walter and Eliza Hall (WEHI) Institute in Melbourne are hoping a phase 1 clinical trial of the vaccine, due to begin this month, will eventually lead to an effective clinical treatment for the disease.

15 Apr 2009

Deafness - cure a hair away?

Despite modern medicine, one in 1,000 American babies are born deaf.

14 Apr 2009

Scientists show how gene alteration can lead to the development of a type of brain cancer

An international team of scientists from the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, the University of North Carolina and several institutions in China have explained how a gene alteration can lead to the development of a type of brain cancer, and they have identified a compound that could staunch the cancer's growth.

14 Apr 2009

Researchers study signaling networks that set up genetic code

In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois have identified and visualized the signaling pathways in protein-RNA complexes that help set the genetic code in all organisms.

14 Apr 2009

New understanding of roles of insulin in obesity or type II diabetes

Researchers have uncovered new evidence suggesting factors other than genes could cause obesity, finding that genetically identical cells store widely differing amounts of fat depending on subtle variations in how cells process insulin.

14 Apr 2009

You are what your mother did not eat during pregnancy

The new science of epigenetics explains how genes can be modified by the environment, and a prime result of epigenetic inquiry has just been published online in The FASEB Journal: You are what your mother did not eat during pregnancy.

13 Apr 2009

Study of neighborhoods points to modifiable factors, not race, in cancer disparities

While cities have shown considerable racial disparities in cancer survival, those racial disparities virtually disappear among smaller populations, such as neighborhoods within that city.

13 Apr 2009

Scientists uncover mimicry at the molecular level that protects genome integrity

The new study, which was published on April 12, 2009, in an advanced online edition of the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, draws new parallels between the Rad60 DNA repair factor and SUMO, a small ubiquitin-like modifier, which are both essential for maintaining genome stability during replication.

13 Apr 2009

Researchers show how PCBs may alter in utero, neonatal brain development

In three new studies - including one appearing online in the Public Library of Science - Biology (PLoS - Biology) - UC Davis researchers provide compelling evidence of how low levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) alter the way brain cells develop.

13 Apr 2009

Health Canada approves Simponi (golimumab) for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis

Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc. and Schering-Plough Corporation has announced that Health Canada has granted approval of Simponi (golimumab) as a once-monthly, subcutaneous therapy for the treatment of moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and active ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

13 Apr 2009

Discovery of variations in resistance to sulfadoxine across Africa

Researchers have discovered that malaria parasites in east and west Africa carry different resistance mutations, which suggests that the effectiveness of sulfadoxine as an antimalarial drug may vary across Africa.

13 Apr 2009

Gene targeting discovery opens door for vaccines and drugs

In a genetic leap that could help fast track vaccine and drug development to prevent or tame serious global diseases, DMS researchers have discovered how to destroy a key DNA pathway in a wily and widespread human parasite.

13 Apr 2009